Isle of Brine and Bone by Natalia Macias Lucia

Author:Natalia Macias Lucia [Lucia, Natalia Macias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightkeeper Press, LLC
Published: 2023-11-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-One

“Dell, wake up!” Hatch’s voice blares from somewhere above me. Strong hands grip my shoulders, shaking me awake.

I grunt groggily, but don’t bother opening my eyes. It’s still night out—I can tell by the black shroud encasing me, pressed heavily upon my face. A tingly layer of goosebumps coat my flesh.

“Dell, c’mon.” Hatch sounds breathless. “Please. Wake up!”

I jolt awake, and my eyes find his—glossy and brimming with worry.

I’m not in bed. Not wrapped in his arms or swathed in sheets, the way I’d been when I shut my eyes hours ago, utterly spent and happy.

Instead, I’m splayed across cold, damp sand, with a vacant shoreline stretching before me, riddled with slow-creeping mist. Coarse granules prick my skin, scratching the backs of my bare arms and legs, coating my lashes and lips. I can taste it, can feel the grit of it in my mouth.

“Hatch?” I sit up, taking in the foggy beach around us. The sky above is streaked in a faint dusting of pink—the onset of morning. “What are we doing here?”

Hatch’s face is as blanched as the rumpled sheets we’d left behind. “I woke up and you were gone.”

“Gone?” I don’t remember this. Don’t remember anything past falling asleep beside him, curled up blissfully snug to his chest.

“The front door was open,” Hatch says. “And when I went out to look for you, I saw the beach gate was ajar...” He clears his throat, an old pain bleeding into his words—bitter memories of the last time he’d run onto a beach like this one to save me.

“Why didn’t one of Nova’s guards stop me at the gate?”

“You told her to keep them out of your way. They’ve probably been warned to leave you alone. Plus, you have a key.” He points at something shiny poking out of the sand a few feet away—my key to the gates, tossed aside like rubbish. “You must’ve used it. Don’t you remember?”

I shake my head, trying to recall how on earth I wound up here, reaching for the tiniest slivers of memory. The gate key in my fist. My fingers on the door knob. My careful footsteps over the dewy grass, the wooden pathway, the sand.

But I remember nothing, my mind an eerie blank slate.

“You were sleepwalking,” Hatch posits.

I shudder. As crappy as the prospect is, I can’t think of a better explanation.

“Has this ever happened to you before?” Hatch asks, his question leadened with concern.

“Just once, I think. Yesterday morning.”

First, the nightmares. Now, this?

I thought it was the devastating memories ruining my sleep. The guilt over losing Bram, the grief over Willow, the trauma afforded me by Ambrose and Florian, as well as the Brine. But maybe, like a gnawing infection, the truth sinks far deeper. Maybe something is wrong inside of me, precipitating these late-night trips to the beach.

Hatch’s eyes cloud over, lightning flashes of fear woven into that lush, beautiful green.

“What is it?” I ask, noting something unreadable in his expression.

He exhales a breath that speaks to countless unspoken worries.

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